Introduction toIntroduction to ShakespeareShakespeare

English I

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born the third of eight children on April 23, 1564, in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, to Mary Arden and John Shakespeare. His father, John, was a shopkeeper and a man of some importance in Stratford who served at various times as Justice of the Peace and High Bailiff (mayor).

Shakespeare The man, the myth, the legend

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

…As it is today.

William attended grammar school where he studied Latin grammar, Latin literature, and rhetoric (the uses of language). As far as we know, he had no formal education.

Education

King Edward VI Grammar School at Stratford-upon-Avon

At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare fell in love with Anne Hathaway who was 26. They married and had three children. Susanna was the oldest, and Hamnet and Judith were twins. Hamnet died as a child.

Let There Be Love…

There were not many forms of entertainment during this time. Books were not in wide circulation and anyone with half a brain could only take so much of that lousy recorder music and those inane puppet shows - so Shakespeare had the brilliant idea of becoming an actor.

Where There’s A Will…

But Wait . . .There’s More!

Theatrical troupes of Elizabethan England were kind of like the garage bands of their time. Actors would often write their own plays, improvise lines, and play female roles. It wasn’t unusual for them to rave for hours or to bore their friends into oblivion. Incontrovertible historical evidence strongly suggests actors of Shakespeare’s time would regularly trash inns, drink heavily, chase locals, and generally wreak havoc.

Aside from the birth of his children, little is known about Shakespeare between 1582 and 1592, except that he built a career as an actor and eventually became an established and popular member of the London theatre circuit.

And More . . .

Shakespeare’s play writing success began with historical works. Between 1590 and 1593, he wrote Henry VI, Parts 1,2, and 3, Richard III and A Comedy of Errors. Romeo and Juliet was among the early plays that he wrote between 1594 and 1596. Shakespeare wrote a total of thirty seven plays, including such masterpieces as Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.

There’s Even More?!?

As an actor, he was a member of a theatrical company known as Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which was later to become the King’s Men. Wealthy patrons supported these theatrical groups. The King’s Men were supported by King James himself.

Shakespeare worked with The King’s Men all of his writing life by providing them with plays year after year. He had a theater that needed plays, actors who needed parts, and his own family who needed to be fed.

Still More Shakespeare . . .

Theatre in Shakespeare’s time was enjoyed by commoners as well as the privileged. Often the audiences were completely illiterate. The public theatres were “open air,” so the players had to compete with livestock sales, screaming street hawkers, and obnoxious drunks on the street.

And Still More . . .

He retired from the theater to his native Stratford in 1612. Due to his widespread fame and success, he was able to buy the second-largest house in Stratford with a cottage, a garden, and 107 acres of soccer field

In early 1616, he wrote his will, leaving his property to his daughter Susanna, 300 pounds to his other daughter, Judith, and his second-best bed to Anne because it was her favorite.

Retirement

Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, on his 52nd birthday. He was buried at Trinity Church in Stratford as an honored citizen. His tombstone bears the following inscription:

Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blest be the man that spares these stones,

And cursed be he who moves my bones.

R.I.P.

These are hardly the best of Shakespeare’s lines, but like his other lines, they seem to have worked. His

bones lie undisturbed to this day.

R.I.P.

Shakespeare Today

Shakespeare’s plays are still produced all over the world. During a Broadway season in the 1980s, one critic estimated that if Shakespeare were alive, he would be receiving $25,000 a week in royalties for a production of Othello alone. The play was attracting larger audiences than any other nonmusical production in town.

Shakespeare continued

Shakespeare was in the acting company, Lord Chamberlain's Men (later called the King’s Men)

He wrote:37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 long poems

His work was not published during his lifetime but four years later in the "First Folio" book

Shakespeare is considered a "man for all seasons" because his plays appeal to everyone (all ages and across time)

The Shakespeare Debate

There is much speculation as to whether or not there was an actual “Shakespeare.”Many historians claim that “Shakespeare” is actually a collection of several poets and playwrights works, while others claim that it was a pseudonym for another writer.The three men most associated with the “Shakespeare Debate” are Edward De Vere, Francis Bacon, and Christopher Marlow.

The Shakespeare Debate

The reasoning behind the controversy seems to lie in the fact that many people find it difficult to accept that a man of poor education and upbringing could write such eloquent masterpieces and have such a strong command of the English language.

The important thing is not to focus on whether he was real or not, but instead we should focus on the great pieces of literature that we have attributed to him.

The Globe Theater

Shakespeare performed his plays here Constructed in 1599

On the banks of the Thames River• Near London

Shape: Octagonal Play time: 2 hours in

the afternoonCost: One penny

TThe he GGlobelobe

TThe he GGlobe continuedlobe continued

Seating: Seating: Pit: General crowd Pit: General crowd Galleries: A small additional fee would Galleries: A small additional fee would

get you these seats get you these seats Box Seats: Royalty or noblemen onlyBox Seats: Royalty or noblemen only

The capacity for the play performance The capacity for the play performance was 3,000 was 3,000

Sound effects were made in the huts Sound effects were made in the huts Ghosts could appear on stage through Ghosts could appear on stage through

trap doorstrap doors

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Flags, trumpets, and fliers told when there Flags, trumpets, and fliers told when there would be a play would be a play

The flags also told the audience what type The flags also told the audience what type of play they would be seeing:of play they would be seeing:Red flag = history playRed flag = history playWhite flag = comedy playWhite flag = comedy playBlack Flag = tragedy playBlack Flag = tragedy play

Shakespearean Actors and Accessories

Shakespearean Actors and Accessories

Costumes Continued . . .

England had “Clothing Acts” which forbade certain classes of people from dressing like a higher class.

So, for an actor-a person of the lower classes- to dress like a nobleman or a king was something of a scandal.

Life of an Elizabethan Actor

Actor must have a strong voice-must be able to yell over the voices of hecklers, drunks and crowds

- must have singing skills

Strong body-acrobatics/gymnastics/juggling/wrestling & able to physically fend off rowdy audience members who jump on stage

- EXPERT fencing skills. Real swords were used and every now and then, an actor would actually be killed on stage if his timing and skills weren’t good enough.- strength to move heavy props

- skilled in speech and rhymed verse - Use of puns and jokes - tragedy skills - Quick wit for hecklers - play female roles - be able to play many different roles in one play. One actor could play up to six roles in one single play! This actor had to change clothes, characters, and personalities many times throughout the play.

Vibrant Personality

All plays were performed during early afternoon because there was no electricity for a night time performance. The audience members sat VERY close to the stage, and sometimes, they could pay a penny extra and actually sit ON the stage with the actors. The audience insisted on seeing blood, gore, and guts. The actors would hide sheep bladders full of sheep blood and entrails under their shirt or costume. When stabbed, the actor would appear to “bleed” or be “gutted” by his opponent. The audience would grow hateful, loud, rude, and destructive if the battles didn’t seem real or gory enough. In order to appear realistic at such close range to the audience, the actor’s sleight of hand had to be quicker than the audience’s eye.

Trickery/ “Magic” Skills

Inside Shakespeare’s Globe

This is a photograph of the newly restored Globe Theater in England. This picture shows what the stage looks like.

The Globe was the first actor owned theater. The theatre held up to 3000 people. There were actually 1500 seats, but many could not afford them, so most paid a penny and attended as groundlings, who stood for the entire play.

The Globe

Parts of the Globe

The Pit- Sometimes referred to as “The Yard” where the groundlings watched the play for their one-penny admission.

The Stage- Major playing area jutted into the Pit, creating a sense of intimacy with the audience. Hangings curtained off space beneath.

Main entrance- Here the doorkeeper greeted playgoers and collected one penny from everyone.

Parts of the Globe

Lord’s Rooms- private galleries; six pennies let a viewer sit here, or sometimes even on the stage itself.

Middle Gallery- called “two-penny rooms” because the seats here were higher priced.

Inner Stage- A recessed playing area often curtained off, then opened for appropriate scenes.

Parts of the Globe

Hut- a storage area that also held a wench system for lowering enthroned gods or other characters to the stage.

Tiring-House- The important backstage area which provided space for storage and business offices.

Parts of the Globe

Trap Door- Leading down to the Hell area where equipment included the winch elevator that raised and lowered actors or properties. There was another trap door in the ceiling referred to as “the heavens.”

Hell- The area under the stage, used for ghostly comings and goings or for more mundane storage of properties.

Elizabethan England

Queen Elizabeth I ruled England during the time that Shakespeare

wrote many of his plays.

Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth IShe ruled England for nearly50 years, and was very popular

Ruled 1558-1603

She was such a strong ruler that the time is called the Elizabethan Age or England’s Golden Age.Elizabeth never married although she had many suitors during her lifetime.Queen Elizabeth had red hair and green eyes and was known for her love of fashion; she had over 2,000 dresses. Some of her more elaborate gowns weighed over 200 pounds each.

Queen Elizabeth I continued

During the 1600s, London was a busy, bustling, walled city. It was having a Renaissance (rebirth) of arts and sciences under two monarchs who loved the theater.

Queen Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was a liberal-minded monarch who enjoyed the theater and wrote plays for special performances. Shakespeare gave 32 performances at her court during her reign.

Elizabethan TheaterDuring this time, theater was not the only form of entertainment. People also enjoyed music and dancing.No women were allowed to act in the plays. Young boys acted the female parts. Actors wore clothes from their own time period, regardless of the play’s setting. The costumes were often very fancy.Audiences were very rowdy. They talked during the plays, and if they did not like one, they would throw garbage at the actors.

Elizabethan England

England was very dirtyMost people bathed only once a year

Doctors worried about the Queen

because she took a bath once a month

People dumped garbage into the city streets

SchoolBoys went to school from age 7 to about 15, where they learned math, Latin, and Greek

Girls were usually educated at home

Men’s Clothing

Women’s Clothing

King James I(Elizabeth’s Successor)

King James I

King James I, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, reigned from 1603 to 1625. He also supported the theatre and wrote many poems and plays. At least half of the plays that he saw performed had been written by Shakespeare.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth and later King James, there were many famous Elizabethan Theaters. Some of these were

“The Theatre” “The Swan”

“The Globe” “The Rose”

“The Blackfriars” “The Fortune”

“The Whitehall” “The Curtain”

These theatres were usually located outside the London walls on the Thames.

Elizabethan Theaters

The Inside “Scoop”

SHAKESPEARE A RIP-OFF ARTIST ?? Bard Not Originator of R & J Story

They were right when they said there's no such thing as an original story. Some critics complained the famous 1961 movie "West Side Story" stole its plot from "Romeo and Juliet." But "borrowing" stories is nothing new. Shakespeare based "Romeo and Juliet" on a long, boring poem by Arthur Brooke called "The Tragical Historie of Romeus and Juliet." But Brooke's poem was based on a French story by Pierre Boaistrau, and this story was taken from Italian writer Matteo Bandellom, whose story is supposedly a true account from the 11th century. And this chain continues back all the way to a Greek story from around the year 400 A.D. -- Elizabethan Times

Sex-Crossed Lovers! Insiders Reveal Juliet Is Really A Boy! Starts "Crying Game" Tradition

The theatre in Shakespeare's day was very different from the theatre we know today. The greatest difference was -- it had no actresses. All of the women's roles were played by boys! - sometimes recruited from the choirs of London churches. Many of these boys acted their parts very well and all were totally accepted by Elizabethan audiences. The first women actors did not appear on the English stage until 1660! -- Elizabethan Times    

JULIET DISSES ROMEO! She Can't Decide, Ro Or No?

Few people know that Juliet originated one of the earliest "Diss" lists. When she learns that Romeo has killed her cousin Tybalt, she "snaps on" 16th century style by calling her lover: "a beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical, dove-feathered raven, wolfish lamb, damned saint, and honorable villain." Polite by today's standard, but just as effective. -- Elizabethan Times    

YOU MAKE THE CALL! First Interactive Theatre!

At one point, two versions of "Romeo & Juliet," one with a tragic ending and one with a happy ending, played on alternate nights and the audience would choose whichever ending suited their mood at the time! -- Elizabethan Times    

Romeo & Juliet was written during a period when Shakespeare had found the strength of his writing. He would have been about 30 years old when he wrote it. It stands as a great play in its own right.

Romeo & Juliet is believed to have been written around 1595. The Nurse in the play refers to "an earthquake eleven years past (Act II, scene 3, line 23). London experienced a strong tremor around 1580.

Romeo & Juliet

Romeo & Juliet1968

Romeo & Juliet

1996

The story is, of course, about a pair of star-crossed lovers. Two teenagers pursue their love for each other despite the fact that their families have been at odds with each other for decades. The story combines swordfighting, disguise, misunderstanding, tragedy, humor, and some of the most romantic language found in literature all in the name of true love.

The Tragedy

The Feud(Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!!!)

Capulets

vs.

Montagues

In The Red Corner…The Capulets

Lord Capulet

Lady Capulet

Juliet, daughter of Capulet

Tybalt, nephew of Lady Capulet

Nurse to Juliet

Peter, servant to the Nurse

Sampson, servant of Capulet

Gregory, servant of Capulet

An Old Man of the Capulet family

And In The Blue Corner…The Montagues

Lord Montague

Lady Montague

Romeo, son of Montague

Benvolio, nephew of Montague and friend of Romeo

Balthasar, servant of Romeo

Abram, servant of Montague

Those of Neither Red Nor Blue

Prince Escalus, ruler of Verona

Mercutio, a relative of the Prince and friend of Romeo

Friar Laurence, a Franciscan priest

Friar John, another Franciscan priest

Count Paris, a young nobleman, a relative of the Prince

An Apothecary ( a druggist )

Page to Paris

Chief Watchman

Three Musicians

An Officer

Citizens of Verona, Relatives of both families

Maskers, Guards, Watchmen and Attendants

How Do I Love TheeElizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints -- I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Any Question

s?

Fun Facts

Life in 1500

Next time you’re washing your hands and the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

More Life in 1500

Back then, baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice, clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children -- last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty, you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Shake, Shake, Shake . . .

Houses had thatched roofs -- thick straw -- piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof -- hence the saying, “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

Shake your . . .

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.

Are we having fun yet?

As one might think, the floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying “dirt poor.” The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway, hence, a “thresh hold.”

Let’s Party!

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite awhile. Hence the rhyme, “peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.” Sometimes they could get pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man “could bring home the bacon.’ They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and “chew the fat.”

More Fun . . .

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leak onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a “wake.”

Are you still awake?

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people, so they would dig up coffins and take them to a “bone-house” and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of every 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside, and they realized that they had been burying people alive. They decided they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the “graveyard shift”) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be “saved by the bell” or was considered a “dead ringer.”